What Happened After: A Little Women (2018) Fic
by Daelena
Summary: Follow the track of Jo and Freddy's relationship between the attic and their wedding. Based on the 2018 film.


What Happened After

A _Little Women (2018)_ Fic

 _Disclaimer: I own nothing here. I'm just playing in this sandbox._

 _So I saw the 2018 Little Women film and my brain decided to fill in what happened between Jo and Freddy in the attic together and their wedding. Obviously, there was a sizeable time jump there, enough for Jo to get her book published and Meg's twins to turn into toddlers (who could walk with a fair amount of confidence)._

 _I hope that everyone enjoys this little plot bunny!_

It was _almost_ surreal to have him in the attic with her. This was the intimate beating hear of her family, her sisterhood, her formative experiences. Having a man she well and truly cared about up here was strange, uncomfortable, a little invasive, and _right_.

Freddy was not the person Jo had expected to find when she had answered the front door, mostly assuming that she would find the play date that Meg was waiting for there. Jo would have laughed at the sheer oddity of finding her editor and dear friend standing there, all of the notes he had on the most personal work she had ever written churning around in his head. But then, he had been honest and he told her that he had needed to see this place – needed to see her.

So she had taken him up to the attic.

There had been a brief, if awkward introduction when Meg had met them on the stairs, the twins safely in her arms. Jo pointedly ignored the smile that Meg had shot her behind Freddy's back. Curse older sisters for knowing too much.

But Jo had forgotten that smile hen Freddy told her that her new book was _The Book_ , that he believed in it and in her, that he wanted her to go back to New York with him. All of the passion in his voice and Jo saw in his eyes everything that she had been trying to convince the more rational part of her brain that she had not been feeling herself.

Maybe it was Beth looking down on her from wherever she was, but Jo saw – and knew – everything that she needed to know.

Freddy held her close when she kissed him and he kissed her back. Everything that had been simmering beneath the surface came rushing up and out. For as much as she had written about epics (even some romances, much to her own protest and reluctance, because they often came hand in hand with epic), Jo had not been prepared for the fire and the electricity of their kisses.

It felt right.

Though Freddy had joked about her stealing his line, Jo was glad that she had made the first move. She might have burst, if she had not.

When Jo finally led him downstairs, her writer's mind already going a mile a minute as she prodded Freddy for his notes, Marmee was home from the events that she had been leading at the shelter. She was not at all surprised to find an unknown man accompanying her second-born daughter. Meg was surprisingly reliable when it came to updating the family on Big News – and Jo entertaining a man she had only so recently denied having feelings for certainly qualified as Big News.

Freddy had flushed and shifted uncomfortably when Marmee had asked after his evening plans before finally admitting that coming up to Lowell from New York had mostly been an impulsive trip and, outside of packing a small overnight back for whatever hotel he had managed to check into for the night, he had no plans outside of seeing Jo. He had had no guarantee that Jo would have been home and the man, bless him, as far too kind to presume or impose. Marmee had settled the debate when she told him that he would spend the night with him.

Jo had flushed when her mother had said that things were feeling a little empty now that Amy was back in London with Laurie and there weren't as many people running through the house. Freddy tried to decline Marmee's offer, but the March family matriarch was a practical woman and she persevered in the end.

That decided, Marmee dismissed the two of them with a wave of her hand until dinner. Freddy, unused to the inner workings of the March family, tried to offer assistance in dinner preparations, which Jo's mother declined with an amused look.

"You came all the way out here to see Jo. Why don't you two go out for a walk? I'm sure that you have a lot to talk about."

Jo took the opening for what it was and dragged Freddy outside. The weather was nice enough and neither minded a walk while they talked. Freddy was an eager listener and student while she talked, telling him al of the little stories and nuances that had not made it into her book. Every so often, she would look over and see him taking in their surroundings and her stories. Once, when he met her gaze, it seemed as if he was seeing her for the first time. From another man, it might have been a wholly uncomfortable look, but, from Freddy Bhaer, Columbia professor and patient wrangler of an aspiring writer, it was calming.

Dinner was a busy affair, as it always was when there were infant twins in the mix.

He mixed into the family well, making jokes with John and her father. Jo had received a series of texts from Amy and Laurie earlier, both demanding information about the arrival of her professor at the house. (Amy also gave her grief for not getting him out there when she had still been home.)

Propriety might have suggested that Marmee make up the bed in the spare room for Freddy, but that room had been turned into the twin's nursery, Turning the couch into a bed would have been an option as well, but it was a little too short for Freddy's frame. As it stood, Marmee was both modern and practical as any twenty-first century woman was. After all, had Amy and Laurie not shared a room on their last trip home? And had John not spent the night with Meg, back when they were dating?

Despite his trek up from New York and the afternoon spent together, neither Freddy nor Jo were too tired as the evening progressed. As the family quieted, they talked long into the night, making plans for their future.

Morning and Marmee found the two curled up on her bed together, Freddy holding Jo with such tenderness, even in sleep. Jo woke quietly, a rarity for her really, given her otherwise loud personality. Whatever awkwardness she might have expected from waking up beside her very-newly-minted boyfriend (they had sorted that bit out the night before), Jo did not find it.

He went back to New York ahead of her. She needed a little more time to get herself packed up again.

Aunt March was happy to put Jo up again at her place with the same work arrangements in place, but the dear old lady was boldly honest. Knowing that the writing was very much on the wall, the woman had said that she did not expect to see Jo at her apartment very often. (Freddy got along well with the woman, when he had come over to her apartment to pick up Jo for dinner, once she had gotten back to the City.)

Getting her novel fit and ready for publication was a long process.

Over a lot of coffee and many hours that spanned months, they sorted through the initial drafts. Jo did not shy away from Freddy's edits and critiques this time. He believed in this book and, if she was being honest, this was some of her best writing. During the days, while he was teaching, she rewrote and rearranged the novel, a process that often bled into the evenings, when he came home with piles of grading.

Aunt March's initial assessments proved to be correct in the end.

More often than not, Jo wound up staying at Freddy's in the evening. Here, they covered a lot of ground, where he graded and she wrote, where he cooked and she did the clean-up after, where they wound up after dates and nights out. Before Jo even realized it, she had basically moved it. It was not until she was putting in maybe one night a week at Aunt March's (and she had a key to Freddy's) that Jo acknowledged the inevitable and made it official.

After months and months of work, Jo found herself an agent, who responded positively to her novel. It only took a few weeks to find a publisher and then, in April, just over a year after Beth had died, her book, _Little Women_ , came out. Jo wound up signing a contract for three more books. (She had pitched a young adult's trilogy about a girl going on a quest to save her ill sister, the specs of which she had been working on as a stress-reliever from editing and were met with interest by Freddy, always her first reader and editor, and her agent, Harry Dashwood.)

The whole family came out for the book's launch party held by her agent and a late Easter celebration held at their place. Jo had stopped thinking of the apartment as strictly Freddy's after they had renewed the lease together.

 _Little Women_ was met with great success by both the critics and the public. Summer had boosted her sales, with many people clamoring to buy it ahead of their vacations. Its success validated Jo immensely and encouraged her to work harder on her young adult trilogy. She had a good draft of the first book ready for her agent just before Halloween.

It made sense that Freddy proposed to her in New York, not long before Christmas. The City was where they met and fell in love.

Freddy didn't do anything too dramatic or grand when he did propose. He knew Jo. For as loud and bold that Jo was, she was not one for affairs of the heart to be conducted in front of a crowd. So, instead, he waited until they had settled in for the night, mugs of hot chocolate firmly in hand. She had draped her legs over his lap when she stretched out and got comfortable on the couch. (One of the first things that he had learned about her was that she sprawled.)

"I love you," he said simply.

"I love you too."

The trading of these endearments was comfortable and familiar to both now.

"Hey Jo, do you want an early Christmas present?"

Jo frowned at him. "I thought we agreed that we would wait until we got out to Lowell for presents."

Freddy grinned sheepishly. "I know. We did. But this has a secondary benefit for Christmas Day."

She raised an eyebrow at him and replied, "Okay. But I'm not giving you one of your presents early in return. You have to wait, just like everyone else."

"I don't mind."

He put his mug down and got up from the couch, moving her legs from his lap as he did. Jo snorted in annoyance at that. Freddy made a bit of show of finding the present, searching through his books on the shelf. When he came back with a book-shaped present, Jo was certainly intrigued.

She smiled warmly at him when she opened the initial package to reveal a collection of Richard Wilbur's poetry. Freddy watched anxiously as her fingers found the bookmark and she opened to "For C.," a poem that Wilbur had written for his wife. He took advantage of her momentary distraction as her eyes scanned the familiar lines of the poem to pull the ring box from his pocket and open it. Jo was wide-eyed when she looked back up and saw what he was holding.

"Freddy . . ."

He had had several speeches prepared for this but, as he got down on one knee before her, Freddy couldn't remember any of them.

"Jo, you are the strongest, most amazing woman I have ever met. I love you. Will you marry me?"

The moment stretched longer than either could have imagined possible, but then Jo smiled, tears in her eyes, and said, "Yes, Freddy. God, yes! Of course, I'll marry you."

She pulled him in for a kiss before he slid the ring, an antique that had belonged to his grandmother, onto her finger. Taking a moment, Jo admired the object. It was fancier than what she would have chosen, had she gone ring shopping for herself, but it was a beautiful piece and, when she saw it on, she had to admit that it suited her well. When Freddy told her its history, Jo loved it more.

As much as she wanted to tell her family right away that they were engaged, Jo conceded that it would be a far better surprise to surprise them all once they got up to Lowell for Christmas in a few days. (Marmee and Dad already knew that their engagement was imminent, Jo found out, but only because Freddy had asked for their blessing.)

They were the last ones to arrive to Christmas. Amy and Laurie had gotten in the day before, opting to stay with Grandpa Lawrence this trip. They timed their arrival almost perfectly, getting in right before dinner, when everyone had already gathered at the house. Jo wished that she had thought to bring a camera with her to capture the reactions of her family when she blurted out that she and Freddy were getting married.

Hugs and congratulations were passed around.

"Christmas just got even better!" Amy declared, squeezing Jo's hands lightly.

And it was.

Neither Jo nor Freddy wanted a long engagement or a large wedding. Jo, like Meg, wanted to get married in the backyard of the March family homestead. This was the closest she felt to Beth and it felt like her late sister was there in spirit.

Once upon a time, she had said that she wouldn't get married before the age of thirty, if at all. But then, life happened and she found herself breaking the oath that she had made.

So, in the moments before her wedding, as she wore the comfortable dress she had found at the vintage store in Manhattan with her signature red Converse, Jo, Meg, and Amy made another oath to support one another, no matter what. As children, they filled their castles with their goals and their dreams. Now, as grown women, the March sisters needed one another to make their dreams, both old and new, a reality.

And then, her sisters escorted her down to the backyard and into the next chapter of her life.

 _Please review and let me know what you thought._


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